improvement program
United Energy Distribution is striving to develop the quality of its electricity network and to continually improve its reliability performance levels.
The company proactively invests in reliability of supply improvement initiatives, aimed at improving customer service delivery.
The initiatives concentrate on the worst performing areas, the major fault causes and introducing new technologies to reduce the number and period of electricity interruptions to minimise the impact on customers.
Additionally, United Energy Distribution is improving work practices to respond to faults more quickly and to increase the amount of planned maintenance and upgrade work that is done with powerlines live so that customers are not interrupted.
The following provides a summary of the major initiatives:
Animals & birds
This program includes the installation of possum guards on transformers, insulating Underground Cable Terminations in specific locations and installing "bird covers" or extra long insulators on high risk poles. In extreme cases, it also includes the upgrade of switches to fully enclosed gas insulated switches to reduce the possibility of animals or birds getting caught up in these structures.
Thermal surveys & additional inspections
A formal program of thermal surveys and inspections continues to find 'hot spots' before they become faults.Work on live power lines
Most planned maintenance work is now conducted while lines are 'live' so that power does not need to be turned off. To enable even more maintenance to be done on live lines, United Energy is increasing the repertoire of tasks that can be done live, training further linesmen in glove and barrier 'live line' practices and redesigning structures to allow more live line work.Protection system improvements
These improvements are focused on either reducing the number of customers affected by a fault or ensuring that the time customers are without electricity after a fault is minimised. We are installing even more fuses and automatic circuit reclosers to help minimise the number of customers affected by faults should they occur.Fault indicators
United Energy is installing additional fault indicators which allow operators to locate more quickly and accurately the fault, reducing the time customers are affected.Remote control and monitoring of field devices
United Energy is installing remote control and monitoring equipment to switches, automatic circuit reclosers and fault indicators in the field so that circuits can be controlled and monitored centrally from United Energy's control centre in Mt Waverley. The control centre can quickly locate a fault and restore supply to customers, speeding up response and supply restoration times in emergencies to further reduce the impact of faults on customers.Trees
The program of cyclic tree cutting is being stepped up in accordance with United Energy's Vegetation Management Plan. This includes daily monitoring of vegetation faults to identify trends or localised areas of poor performance to address.
Pole fires
United Energy is continuing the program started in 1997 to inspect, test or replace insulators in high risk areas and washing insulators in areas subject to pollution build up, such as coastal regions.Other initiatives
These include replacing specific types of equipment which are coming to the end of their service lives and are beginning to fail at a higher than acceptable rate or are prone to being the site of faults. This includes certain types of lightning arresters, cable terminations and switchgear. It also includes localised areas of concern on the 240 volt powerlines in some residential streets where fault rates are unacceptably high.Power quality
Power quality refers to the quality of the electricity supply waveform. As a power problem, it may result in the mis-operation of customer equipment and is most commonly noticed as voltage sags causing a slight momentary dipping of lights.United Energy has been proactively monitoring power quality (predominantly momentary voltage dips) since April 1997. Areas where power quality does not meet our expectations will be improved.